Great espresso requires a very consistent finely ground coffee. This is required so that it can be consistently tamped down into the brewing head. This is very important because the water is forced through the grinds with pressure and if there are nooks and crannies for the water to flow through it will not brew correctly.

Once brewed, espresso coffee is used as the base for several familiar coffee drinks: latté, cappuccino, Americano to name a few. Lattés mix espresso with warm milk. Often the milk will be steamed to heat it. Cappuccino mixes espresso with frothed milk. Steaming is used with a particular frothing technique to obtain cappuccino rather than latté. Americano is a shot of espresso with about 2 shots of hot water.